4oD review

This review was written by Khafsa Ghulam in March 2013.

4oD is a free service offered by the Channel 4

Background

I am in my early twenties and I have no light perception, therefore I rely on my screen reader when using my computer, which in my case is JAWS. The online 4oD player consists of a wide range of programmes, however, the main thing that attracts me to the 4oD service is the range of documentaries that are available to view. Sometimes, it is not possible to watch all of them while they are being aired, so I generally use the catch-up service to watch them. I have been using the online catch-up service for a year and a half and I have seen it go through some significant developments, the main one being the inclusion of audio described content.

Information about the service

The 4oD online catch-up service offers people the ability to watch programmes that have already been broadcasted by Channel 4.

Setting up

The service was tested on a computer running the windows 7 operating system, using internet explorer 9 and JAWS version 12.

You can watch programmes directly on the 4oD website by using the flash player. Accessing this with a screen reader is straight forward. Once you find a programme you want, you just locate the flash player and press the 'play' button. You can also add programmes to your own playlist and save them to watch later (please note, in order to access the playlist feature you must have an account with 4oD).

Using the service

I use the 4oD player to catch-up on programmes that I have missed. I also enjoy using the website to browse through the documentaries that are available and make a note of any that interest me so that I can watch them later.

The layout of the 4oD website is fairly easy to navigate with a screen reader, although headings could be used to identify the category of audio described content. Alternatively, if I know what I'm looking for, I can use the search feature. This enables me to jump straight to the list of programmes that match my search query. Generally, the results are accurate and I can quickly locate my desired programme.

the flash player is mostly accessible, initially there were a few problems when trying to access the play/pause and other playback control buttons. As someone who is not able to see the screen, I did not know that the play button was not visible on the screen due to the fact that I hadn't zoomed in enough on the flash player. In order to resolve this problem, I needed to press the keys 'control, shift, plus' together in order to enlarge the player. In order to ensure that the buttons would be visible, I pressed it a few times. I was then able to pause or stop the programme as I wished. However, one thing I did struggle with, was the rewinding and forwarding of a programme once it was playing. There are buttons on the player that allow you to jump to specific parts of the programme, but for some reason I could not get my screen reader to activate any of these.

Advantages and Disadvantages

The fact that programmes are listed by category made it easier to select a particular genre that interested me. I really like watching the documentaries that channel 4 Broadcasts, so I could navigate to the respective category via the headings on the home page and select a programme that interested me. However, when navigating with the arrow keys, I found that the focus jumped around the page quite a bit, which disorientated me and I had to then navigate back to a familiar point.

I also liked the fact that audio description is available and that it is possible to access the content with this feature straight from the home page. However, locating this content is not obvious and given the fact that the focus moves around, I did not locate it at first. Nevertheless, I was able to overcome this barrier by bringing up the list of links on the current page (by pressing insert plus F7) and pressing 'A' until I found the link for Audio Description. However, once the page had loaded, accessing the list of audio described programmes was not easy. Still, I was able to work around this problem by locating the advertisement section (using the headings) and arrow down to the list of programmes with audio description.

One feature that I really like about the 4oD online player is that as you are watching each section of the programme it tells you what you are watching. For example, it tells you when you are watching adverts or the actual programme. So, if there are 5 adverts being played before your programme, a message will come up at the bottom of the flash player which reads 'advert 1/5'. Additionally, directly underneath the flash player, there is a synopsis of the programme that is on screen and a list of programmes in that series.

Any other comments

The layout of the website could be improved in order to make navigation of the content more efficient for screen reader users. For example, accessing the list of audio described programmes could be made easier by including a heading that would make the content stand out, thus making it possible to access it more efficiently with a screen reader.

Conclusion

Overall, the 4oD online catch-up service is a really good provision for screen reader users. The inclusion of audio described content and the wealth of content that is available to view are positive aspects of the service. However, in order to improve the user experience, the structure of the website could be improved to make navigating with a screen reader more efficient. Additionally, while the majority of the flash player is accessible, it is not possible to rewind/forward a programme with the keyboard.